Green slime along the Caloosahatchee River concerns neighbors

Not what you want to see in our waterways. Algae, which is floating down the Caloosahatchee River.

The WINK News drone spotted some of it near the Edison Bridge in North Fort Myers Tuesday. Now, many neighbors fear a repeat of last year’s water crisis.

”Last year you couldn’t see two inches into the water,” Don Moore said. “It was that bad.”

Moore is worried this summer will be worse. He and other neighbors along the Caloosahatchee River woke up to the familiar sight of pea soup algae in their backyards.

“When I was out here this morning it was just green…like a green slime out here on the water,” Moore said. “You don’t know how it’s going to affect you.”

Even more concerning, the Calusa waterkeeper tweeted: Cyanobacteria pigment levels in the water at the Franklin Lock are 15 times higher than they were last year at this time.

”It makes me think it’s going to happen again,” Moore said. “You know they’re not doing anything.”

You can see the green swirls in the river where the WINK News drone flew this morning. This part of the Caloosahatchee River flows into a canal where Michael Denike lives.

“As bad as it was last year, I could see it could be starting already,” Denike said. “Plus, it’s getting warmer.”

Neighbors hope state leaders can help before they are forced to spend another summer indoors.

”If they don’t start doing something about the lake…the overflow and the lake and that stuff,” Denike said, “nothing is going to change.”